Doctors at Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City Tumor Hospital have decided against removing a local man's 90-kilogram tumor, saying the procedure would cost the patient his life, VnExpress reported.

They saidNguyen Duy Hai, 31, had pleural effusion, which would cause respiratory failure after such an operation.

Massive blood loss during the procedure could also threaten the patient's life, doctors said.

“We compared performing a risky surgery with letting the patient live with his non-painful tumor, and we chose the second option,” said Dr Pham Xuan Dung, deputy director of the hospital.

Hai will soon be brought back to his home in Da Lat, a mountain town in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. Doctors said they would continue to monitor Hai in case they may be able to operate on him in the future.

The HCMC Tumor Hospital said it was willing to provide assistance to any health organization or medical clinic able to perform surgery on Hai.

Hai said he was not “too upset” about the cancelation of the surgery because he has a lot of caring people around him.

Hai has been diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1), formerly known as von Recklinghausen disease, a human genetic disorder.

Hai was a normal infant, but his right leg grew much bigger than his left leg by the time he turned four years old.

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Vietnamese doctors unsure about surgery to remove 90-kg tumor

After doctors amputated his right leg 14 years ago, a tumor kept growing and has since swallowed portions of his buttocks and back.

This July, when Hai was admitted to the HCMC Tumor Hospital, the tumor was approximately 1 meter wide and weighed about 80 kilograms (176 pounds).